Three Cups Full Of Bottled Lightning
by dear runaway
Summary: Nathan Scott has everything he ever wanted, his basketball career has made his name is known throughout whole America and his health is incredible. But his life isn’t perfect, because all he wants is something he doesn’t have: a child of his own. AU, NP.


_Nathan Scott has everything he ever wanted, his basketball career has made his name is known throughout whole America and his health is incredible. But his life isn't perfect, because all he wants is something he doesn't have: a child of his own._

**A/N:** While writing the next chapter to my other fan fiction, _Here's To Unhappy Endings_, I thought up this idea. At first I wanted to use this storyline for that fic, but I decided that would be too much and too complicated. So here it is; another creation from within my strange, awkward mind. I'm in love with this pairing, what can I say? Anyway, pretty much everything in the show happened up until season 3, aside from the Nathan/Haley relationship. They never dated. It's now four years later, so they're all about twenty-two.  
**PAIRINGS:** Nathan/Peyton, Lucas/Brooke. Haley will be in this, but I'm not sure what to do with her yet. Of course there will be Brooke/Peyton friendship, because who can live without?  
**DISCLAIMER:** This show was created by Mark whatever-his-last-name-is. It ain't mine, folks.

* * *

**THREE CUPS FULL OF BOTTLED LIGHTNING.  
**_Like a balloon on a long string.  
_

These camera flashes were really starting to bug him.

They were in a hospital for god sakes, couldn't they just bugger off and leave him be for just two hours? Apparently not, because they were still up in his face. Damned reporters, they should just lead their own lives instead of trying to get inside of his.

Just when he was about to stand up and take a stand, tell them all to get the hell away from him, his family and his friends, his trail of thought was interrupted by a shout down the hallway.  
_  
_"It's a girl," Lucas Scott gloated, his entire face radiant with happiness while he came rushing into the waiting room, where they all sat nervous and anxiously. He didn't stop to catch his breath but continued on, his cheeks red with excitement. "It's a girl and she's tiny and wonderful and perfect and as healthy as a baby can be."

Haley James was the first to jump up, her feet carrying her towards her best friend of many years as she threw her arms around him, congratulating him. Nathan watched them, a grin of his own tilting his lips up as he slapped his brother's back in congrats. "That's awesome, big bro." he grinned, watching how his half brother paraded around the room, being congratulated and embraced by his friends and family and acted like the proud father he was.

"Can we see her?" Rachel Gattina asked brashly, not really giving much thought as to whether the mother of his child wanted some rest; she just wanted to see her friend, and the baby. Marvin "Mouth" McFadden laughed at her, but he too wanted the answer to be a plain and simple yes.

"Yes," Lucas told her, "but just two-" No one listened, footsteps scurried out and left him there in mid-sentence while Karen Roe sniggered at her son's look of disbelief. "Come on, kiddo. I want to see my granddaughter and see how my daughter-in-law is doing."

Brooke Scott, formerly Davis, looked up warily when the doors to her room opened, but couldn't help but smile joyously when seeing the faces. Her face was still slightly beaded with sweat, and her eyes looked tired and restless. Still, Nathan noticed, she looked as beautiful as she always did. A tiny bundle of pink blankets was lying in her arms, and Nathan was the first to be at her bedside, smiling down at his sister-in-law. "How are you feeling, Brooke?" he asked her, while Antwon "Skills" Taylor whistled appreciatively. "I don't know how you feeling, Brooke, but you are lookin' damn fine to me." he joked, and laughter echoed through the room.

Brooke, too, grinned before shushing them with her finger. "She just fell asleep. And I feel just fine, Nathan."

"Yeah," Lucas snorted, entering the room with his mother in tow, who instantly went over to see the baby. "_Now_ you are. But just fifteen minutes ago you were in the process of breaking my hand and filing in a divorce."

"Ouch," Haley commented, wincing slightly. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse," Brooke told her, not wanting to remember the pain. It had all been worth it when seeing the first glimpse of her daughter.

"I'm glad you and the baby are okay, Brooke," Peyton Sawyer finally spoke, having been quiet all this time. Brooke looked at her, before smiling gently.

"Her name is Elizabeth," Nathan noticed how Peyton's head shot up, blonde curls bouncing as she went. Brooke saw it too, and reached out to take the blonde's hand. Peyton took it and squeezed it appreciatively, before releasing her again. "Elizabeth Karen Scott," Brooke then continued, and at the middle name Karen smiled gratefully, eyes full of pride and joy, "But we're going to call her Ella for short."

"That's a beautiful name, Brooke," Mouth piped up, and the rest of the attendees nodded in agreement and approval.

Then, Brooke eyed her husband, signing to him that she wanted to do something. Understanding, Lucas agreed without words. "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave," he told his friends, before his eyes met those of his brother's. "Everyone but Nathan and Peyton, please." Nathan felt surprised, and his gaze fell on Peyton who looked just as confused as he did.

Brooke's eyes contrasted with those of Haley, and Haley, who knew what was about to happen, smiled comfortably. "It's okay," she told the brunette soothingly. Brooke's smile widened, dimples increasing. "Thank you. I love you, Tutor-Girl."

"I love you too, Tigger. Rest well." After a hand-squeeze, Haley ushered the rest out, telling them to move along while closing the door behind her with a quiet _click_.

"She's beautiful, Brooke," Peyton spoke, her hand delicately smoothing down the baby's cheek, as if she was the most fragile thing in the world. And she probably was, Nathan guessed, smiling softly to himself when the baby opened her tiny mouth to yawn, obviously tired from all the crying she had done before. Elizabeth really was beautiful with her small brown hair sticking out and her blue eyes. Nathan felt a sharp _pang_ in his heart, just looking at the tiny form.

"Thank you." Brooke turned to Lucas, who nodded down at her, smiling lovingly at his daughter. "We wanted to ask you," she then started, looking back at her two friends, "If you wanted to be Ella's godparents."

There was a silence that engulfed them, and Peyton seemed baffled. Nathan himself felt rather shocked, not having been expected this, at least not at the moment.

"Of course," Peyton was the first to answer, tears filling her eyes. After all the heart break she had went through with Brooke about Lucas, she didn't expect this. "I'd love to." Lucas gave her a quick hug, which she returned, before Peyton kissed her best friend's forehead. "Thank you," she whispered, and Brooke smiled up at her. "No, P. Sawyer. Thank _you_."

Now all eyes were on him, and he couldn't help but grin, "What do you think?"

Taking this as a yes, Lucas pulled him into a brotherly hug, his lips spreading into a full-blown grin. "This is great," he told them. His day couldn't get any better, Nathan suspected. He was glad he had played a part in it somehow.

As the newly parents cooed and fussed over their daughter, Nathan caught Peyton's eye and they smiled at each other, a silent agreement crossing between them. They'd be the best godparents to ever walk the planet. If he couldn't be a father of his own, he'd be a godfather to someone else's child.

It was thirty-six minutes later that Nathan left the hospital, and thirty-seven when he was ambushed by the first reporter.

_"Mr. Scott! We heard your brother just had a baby, is this true?"_

"Yes," he answered just for the sake of it, "A girl."

_"Do you have your own plans to have any children in the nearby future?"_

He fell quiet, unsure of how to respond. For the past year, the thought had played on his mind frequently. But he never had done anything about it; one of those reasons was that he did not, not now and probably not ever, want to get stuck in some kind of marriage. Most of the girls he dated were just in it for the money, or for the title of Mrs. Nathan Scott. Those weren't really attractive qualities.

"I'd love to have them," he finally answered, smiling at the thought of his own child, lying in his own arms.

"_Soon?"  
_  
This startled him, and the answer he gave startled him even more, "Yes."

His heart had answered before his mind was done thinking, and now he didn't have a way out. He could already see the headlines forming, _Nathan Scott Is Having A Baby_.

But what was even weirder was the fact that it really didn't even bother him at all.

His mind was made up. He didn't need a wife or even a girlfriend.

What he needed was a surrogate mother.


End file.
